This episode is a little different. It's an interview with an A.I. of Sir John A. Macdonald.
So what does that mean? Well, it means that I gathered up the transcripts for all the House of Commons Debates for every year that Macdonald was Prime Minister, and threw in a few other historical resources as well. I processed those and made them available to a large language model, similar to the one that powers ChatGPT. Then I instructed that large language model to answer all of my questions as though it were Sir John A. Macdonald, using those historical resources I provided for reference.
The result is this interview you're about to hear.
If you want to ask John A. Macdonald some questions of your own, you can do so here: sirjohnai.longformnorth.com
All the historical resources I used are listed there as well.
(Note: The idea for this episode was partly inspired by Tyler Cowen who used ChatGPT to record an interview with Jonathan Swift. You can check out that interview here.)
For more about the podcast, check out the website: longformnorth.com
Music by Aaron Barth
Hosted and produced by Ian Van Harten
Here in Canada, you can get clean drinking water simply by turning on a tap. Unless you live in one of the many First Nations communities that are subject to long-term drinking water advisories. In which case, you have to boil the water first before you can use it. Or you have to use bottled water for everything, including brushing your teeth or cooking with.
How is it that in a first-world country like Canada, we still have communities of people who don't have access to clean drinking water?
Joining me to help better understand what's going on here, is Ken Coates. He is a man with many titles, but one of them is that he is a distinguished fellow at the Macdonald Laurier Institute where he co-authored a paper called The Water Conundrum and Indigenous Communities in Canada.
Links:
For more about the podcast, check out the website: longformnorth.com
Music by Aaron Barth
Hosted and produced by Ian Van Harten
A little over 25 years ago, a book by the historian Jack Granatstein came out, called Who Killed Canadian History? It sparked some controversy back then about how ignorant most Canadians are about Canadian history, and how riddled it is with politics and bureaucracy. And, Granatstein said, if you don't have any memory of your history, then you don't really know who you are, other than maybe 'not being American.'
But that was 25 years ago. What about today?
Joining me for a discussion about Who Killed Canadian History? is J.D.M. Stewart. He was a high school history teacher for 30 years. Now he's a writer, historian and author, most recently of a book called Being Prime Minister, and he has another one coming out later this year.
Links:
For more about the podcast, check out the website: longformnorth.com
Music by Aaron Barth
Hosted and produced by Ian Van Harten
Welcome to Longform North -- a longform interview podcast featuring Canadian voices and stories about Canada.
Canada is a federal country, which means power is divided between two levels of government - the federal government and the provinces.
And even though it's all one country, the provinces are very different from each other. They have different economies, different cultures, different politics, different languages, and different interests.
And sure, diversity is our strength and all that, but trying to balance all those interests isn't always easy. At least one province has tried to separate a couple times, while similar threats from other provinces have bubbled up, too.
So how do all these governments work together? And what, if anything, keeps the country from falling apart?
Joining me again to help out with these questions is Dr. Tom Bateman. He is a professor of political science at St Thomas University, and he is one of the co-authors of a book called The Canadian Regime: An Introduction to Canada's Parliamentary Democracy.
Some of the topics we discuss include:
Links:
*Note: This episode was recorded on March 15th, 2025.
For more about the podcast, check out the website: longformnorth.com
Music by Aaron Barth
Hosted and produced by Ian Van Harten
Welcome to Longform North -- a longform interview podcast featuring Canadian voices and stories about Canada.
In Canada, we pick our leaders through elections, where the person who gets the most votes wins.
But it's actually a little bit more complicated than that. And some people think that the way we do elections should actually be changed.
So what are the rules for how someone wins an election?
What does it mean to represent, or act on behalf of, the people that voted you in?
And what do you do when the voter participation rate gets as low as 45%? Less than half of the total amount of people who are eligible to vote.
Dr. Tom Bateman is back to help us out with these questions and more. He is a professor of political science at St Thomas University, and he is one of the co-authors of a book called The Canadian Regime: An Introduction to Canada's Parliamentary Democracy.
Some of the topics we discuss include:
Links:
*Note: This episode was recorded on January 25th, 2025, a day after Premier Doug Ford called a snap election in Ontario, and a few weeks before Mark Carney won the leadership race for the Liberal Party of Canada.
For more about the podcast, check out the website: longformnorth.com
Music by Aaron Barth
Hosted and produced by Ian Van Harten
Welcome to Longform North -- a longform interview podcast featuring Canadian voices and stories about Canada.
The word parliament comes from a French word that means to talk or have a conversation. Though I think the impression a lot of people have about Canadian parliament is that there isn't much conversation going on there beyond prepared talking points.
But you might be surprised to hear that the parliamentary system, as far as systems of government go, is actually a pretty good one, and it organizes things in a way that kind of makes sense. Though that's not to say there aren't any ways it couldn't be improved.
So on this episode we're talking about the important things you should know about how Canadian parliament works, and some ideas about how it could be made better.
Joining me again to help out with this is Dr. Tom Bateman. He is a professor of political science at St Thomas University, and he is one of the co-authors of a book called _The Canadian Regime: An Introduction to Canada's Parliamentary Democracy,_ which is the main source and inspiration for this series of podcasts on Canadian democracy.
Some of the topics we discuss include:
Links:
*Note: This episode was recorded on January 6th, 2025, which happened to be the same day that Justin Trudeau announced his resignation and prorogued parliament.
For more about the podcast, check out the website: longformnorth.com
Music by Aaron Barth
Hosted and produced by Ian Van Harten
Welcome to Longform North -- a longform interview podcast featuring Canadian voices and stories about Canada.
There's a set of freedoms we have in this country. There's the freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and lots of other freedoms. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms gives us protection for all these freedoms -- except when it doesn't.
How far does the Charter go in protecting these rights and freedoms? What are the exceptions? Why are there exceptions? And how does that all get figured out?
Joining me again to talk about all this is Dr. Tom MJ Bateman. He is a professor of political science at St Thomas University, and he is one of the co-authors of a book called The Canadian Regime: An Introduction to Canada's Parliamentary Democracy, which is the main source and inspiration for this series of podcasts on Canadian democracy.
Some of the topics we discuss include:
Links:
For more about the podcast, check out the website: longformnorth.com
Music by Aaron Barth
Hosted and produced by Ian Van Harten
Welcome to Longform North -- a longform interview podcast featuring Canadian voices and stories about Canada.
On this inaugural episode, we're talking about the origins and foundation of Canada's political system.
Canada is a parliamentary democracy, and this system inherits from traditions and ideas that are much older than Canada itself.
But what are those ideas, where did they come from, and how are they influencing the way our political system works?
Joining me to talk about all this is Dr. Tom MJ Bateman. He is a professor of political science at St Thomas University, and he is one of the co-authors of a book called The Canadian Regime: An Introduction to Canada's Parliamentary Democracy.
Some of the topics we discuss include:
Links:
*Note: This episode was recorded on December 30th, 2024 (a few weeks before Justin Trudeau prorogued parliament).
For more about the podcast, check out the website: longformnorth.com
Music by Aaron Barth
Hosted and produced by Ian Van Harten